| Site Name | Ord River - East Kimberley |
| Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Place Name | |
| Language Group, Nation or People | Kitja, Jaru, Mirrawong |
| Present State/Territory | WA |
| Colony/State/Territory at the time | WA |
| Police District | East Kimberley |
| Latitude | -15.494 |
| Longitude | 128.354 |
| Date | Between 1 Oct 1893 and 24 Nov 1893 |
| Attack Time | |
| Victims | Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander People |
| Victim Descriptions | |
| Victims Killed | 30 |
| Victims Killed Notes | |
| Attackers | Colonists |
| Attacker Descriptions | Aboriginal Tracker(s), Police |
| Attackers Killed | 0 |
| Attackers Killed Notes | |
| Transport | Horse |
| Motive | Reprisal |
| Weapons Used | Revolver(s), Winchester(s) |
| Narrative | 'On the 18th September, whilst police were endeavoring to arrest some natives for horse and cattle killing, Constable Collins was speared through tho body. He died next day and was buried on the spot, on the Bow River, 110 miles from Wyndham.' (The Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2) Police reports indicate that after PC Collins' death, a large-scale punitive expedition was sent out to catch Collins' killers. It comprised Sergeant Brophy, PCs Rhatigan, McCarthy and Lucanus, and native assistants Rocket, Willie, Mickey and Dickey. Over nearly two months from 1 October to 24 November 1893 they travelled 1091 kilometres and, as their reports indicate, shot thirty Aboriginal people (SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894). This patrol consisted of incidents such as this: On 14 October 1893 Sgt Brophy who was in charge of a police patrol reported killing four men and catching 'a few old men and women who could not run away' and instructed his native assistant to tell them that if they kept killing cattle or breaking insulators on the telegraph line 'all the natives would either be shot or put in gaol'. The following day the police patrol came across another group along the Ord River and because he 'could plainly see that the natives intend to fight it out', six more who he wrote were 'notorious cattle killers' were killed. On 19 October four more were killed. On 23 October 1893 the patrol discovered a group camped whom Brophy described as 'the most treacherous in the district'. Each officer took thirty rounds of ammunition and they waited until daybreak to raid the camp. In the dawn raid the 'women and children ran away' but all the men took to the rock hideaway with spears. Brophy wrote: 'It was not until 10 were shot dead that they made any attempt to run away. In all my experience with natives I have never known them to make such plucky and determined fight as those blacks' (SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894). From July 1893 (when Trooper Collins was killed) to 24 November 1893 police recorded shooting and killing at least eighty-one Aboriginal people. |
| Sources | CSO, 'Journal of a trip by Sergt Brophy and party in pursuit of natives who are killing cattle on the Ord, Osmand and other rivers 1 October 1893–24 November 1893', SROWA, AN 24, Cons. 527, File 90/1894; The Daily News, September 27, 1893, p 2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/77380675; Owen and Choo, 2003, pp 135-145; Owen, 2016, pp 348-350. (Sources PDF) |
| Corroboration Rating | *** |
